New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-06-21
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
MEADOW AND UPLAND.


vAsrELAND wANDERINGs. BY CHARLES G ABBOTT,
NJ. D. l2mo: PIP. sl2. New-York' Harper *
Brothers. 1887.
These waste-lands arc not remote desert reaches,
nor are the wanderiugs long journeys through
strange continents. DIR. Abbott's rambes here SET
forth are confined TO the fields about his nome Oh
the Jersey shore of the Delaware below lrentoh'-
TO upland and meadow and tidewafer creeks Whose
flora and faupa he has already celebrated IN otho'
volumes Dr. Abbott is never philosopher iko
Thorean and rarely poet like burroughs wneh a'
his hest. but q naturalist of some attainment VINO
watches tho teeming life about bin and weaves TO-
pethcr q chronicle of the daily doings of our lowly
relatives that has a genuine attractiveness.
Hundreds of people will read with delight what
Others have observed OF the habits OF hzard Oh
catfish, q FREELY or spider. meadow-nouso
or house wren, who have never felt inciihea W
rive any studious attention to the living things
Themselves. Indeed il may be doubted whether one
can learn to use eye and VINO mas grown
nm without having acquired a certain alertness OF
the senses which prompts him constantly 10 play
the detective with nature. Books OF this type would
serve high purpose If they stimulated those whose
minds are yet capable OF forming habits OF observa
ton 10 the work of seeing for themselves. Inc
majority of b0Ok-readers, however have passed
TINT period, but to them DR.. AbbOtts pages Will
Mt least bring pleasant recreation in the hours OF
summer leisure.
It's the homely habits of the animal kingdom In
which we are chiefly interested. and this book does
not err az some Others of the series have done. III
giving snch prominence to eccentric performances
Of birds and beasts, undertaken apparently for the
authors entertainment. The bittern which fell
dead while on the wing was an exceptional bird,
but few such marvels are recorded DIR. Abbott
makes some incautious statements. as when he says;
An ordinary half-nile stroll beyond the city limits
may enable YOU TO see forty more species OF BIRDS
possibly tifty-and fully one-half of them VIII be
in focks" Perhaps it may, but 1t probably never
did. In half dozen years fifty species may have
been seen in midwnter all told, but Dr. Abbott
never saw them all in an ordinary half mile
strolI.n And is it true that dogwood blossoms are
"often lost in the drifts of an April snowstorm y
The flowers of lamb lettuce can hardly be called
deep blue, and certainly those of the sumach
arc not "of richest red although the
fruit is of that color. The golden club
is far from being the rarest of water plants as re-
ported. and why speak of its "taperDg spatho"
when practically it has monet 1t is this lack OF
rigid accuracy in observation and statement which
makes us hesitate before accepting some generali-
cations of more or less Importance The proof, for
example that Delaware fishes in Indian times were
greatly superior in size to their descendants IN the
river to-day is based upon some bones found in the
blackened earth marking an old campfire. But
fishbones are not lmperishable aad an sntecooDial
sunsh constructed out of the relics of an ash heap
must be youched for by a more cautions lnves-
tigator.
Crossw1cks Valley contains material for many
more books and no doubt Dr. Abbott will keep on
making them He speaks of 8 400 observations Of
the blue bird since 1874, about 800 year. and If
he has been equally industrious in max
ing records of other birds and fishes and animals
and insects and plants he must have ac-
cumulated an extensive library OF
notebooks Systematic study of this kind
is as rare as it is praiseworthy and Dr. Abbott
ought to supplement it with the most painstalsina
accuracy of statement, so that his science will
be as trustworthy as his style is graceful. How
pleasantly the author writes when In poetical
mood single extract must suffice to show. He Is
reseuting the classification of large number OF
birds as minor songsters" and adds The sur
roundings make the song Is not the wild scream
of the hawk as il hovers on the edge OF a storm
cloud answering the rafting thunder with its de-
faint cry AKIN to musics The whistle of the car
dina in crystal clear mdwinter days; the hopeful
MARBLE of the buebird as il hints of spring the
CHEEKY call of the crested TIT the faint sping of
restless cedarbirds simple sounds that we hear at
intervals months after the grOsbeak, the orioles
and the warblers have departed; are they not as
deli ghtful to the ear. soothing and suggestive
as any summer song Of nesting thrushes
The unpretending efforts of the song-sparrow, the
grassfncb and all the host of minor songsers
afford / believe at least as much pleasure as the
wonderful performances of the masters Of melody